


Like a mother to him

by kate_the_reader



Series: Bob [6]
Category: RocknRolla (2008)
Genre: M/M, Minor Character Death, Sadness, dealing with a crisis, the death is off-screen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 23:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12119826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate_the_reader/pseuds/kate_the_reader
Summary: Confronting the mortality of the woman who was like a mother to him means Bob has to see One Two again. But Dave is with him.





	Like a mother to him

**Author's Note:**

  * For [deinvati](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deinvati/gifts).



> For deinvati, who has made me very happy with her love for this relationship I've created, and who prompted "You need to go" on tumblr. There was no way this could mean angst between Bob and Dave.  
> I hope you like this small slice of their relationship, my dear friend.

Dave is looking at the text Bob got while he was at work, that he’s been thinking about all day.

When he got his new mobile, he gave the number to very few people from before. But he did give it to One Two’s mum. He didn’t think she’d give it to One Two, but he didn’t really care, he wanted her to have it. He rings her now and then, just to chat. He hasn’t told her specifically about Dave, but she knows he’s not hanging around with One Two anymore. And he’s told her he’s happy.

He last rang her about three weeks ago, and she was fine then.

The text is from her phone, but it isn’t from her. It’s from a nurse.

“Barbara is very ill. She wanted you to know. She is in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.”

“She was a like a mum to me,” Bob says. “You know, when One Two was away and I used to go round and take her things.”

“She taught you to make scones.” Dave smiles at him. He’s remembered how Bob told him that, so long ago.

“Yeah.”

“You need to go.” Dave hands him back his phone. “If she asked the nurse to text you, it must be serious. You should go.”

“I could phone and find out.”

“Yes. But go and visit her, love.”

“I should ring One Two as well.”

“Yes, you do that.” Dave gives his knee a squeeze, then stands up and goes back to the kitchen counter where he’s making dinner.

Bob stays sitting on the sofa, uncertain. He doesn’t want One Two to have his new number, but he will, if Bob rings.

“Do you want to use my phone? Or the one in the office?” 

“Can I? Yeah, the office one.”

He goes into Dave’s office, but he doesn’t close the door.

It’s been months since he last spoke to One Two. Maybe he should phone Mumbles first, find out how he is.

So he does. Mumbles picks up after three rings. “Yeah,” he says.

“Hello Mumbles. It’s me. Bob.”

“Bobby! How are you, mate? Where the hell are you?”

“I’m good. At home.” He rushes on. “How’s One Two?”

“What do you mean? He’s okay.”

“Only, I got a message that his mum’s really sick.”

“Nah, he hasn’t said anything to me. But you know One Two. Can be a secretive bastard.”

Bob laughs a little at that. “Yeah. I thought I’d give him a ring. D’you think …?”

“That he’d be okay with that? He’s cooled down a bit. Everything’s changed, since …” He doesn’t say it, but they both know what he means.

“That’s good,” says Bob. “Those crazy fucking Russians.”

It feels very strange to be sitting in Dave’s neat office talking to Mumbles about all that.

“So, d’you think …?”

“I can talk to him if you want, Bob.”

“Nah, I just wondered. It sounded like his mum was really sick. I really like his mum.”

“Yeah. He knows that. You okay, Bob?”

“Yes. I’ve got a job.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Driver.”

Mumbles laughs.

“Minicab. It’s okay.” He doesn’t want to tell about how his life really is. Peaceful and calm and clean. And happy. 

“Good, Bob. That’s good. You take care.”

“You too.”

He hangs up and goes out into the sitting room. Dave’s watching the news on telly.

“Okay, love?”

“I rang Mumbles. One Two hasn’t said anything to him. Doesn’t mean anything though.” He walks over to the sofa and sits down close to Dave, leans against him. “I’ll ring him later. Shall I ring his mum? Maybe that nurse will pick up.”

“You could phone the hospital. Speak to the ward sister.”

“Yeah.” But he makes no move.

“Want me to ring for you?”

Bob would like that. “Do you mind?”

“Mind? Of course not. Dinner won’t be ready for a bit. Shall we do it now?”

They go in the office and Dave looks up the number of the hospital and dials it. Bob’s half sitting on the desk and Dave takes his hand while he waits for the call to go though. “What’s her name?” he says.

“Macdonald. Barbara Macdonald.” 

Dave talks to someone and then waits be put through to the ward. “Hello,” he says, “we got a message that Barbara Macdonald is there and very poorly and we’re wondering if we can come and visit her?” He listens while the person on the other end says something. “Oh, that’s bad. We can come? No, not family, exactly. Very good friend. Yes, thank you, we will.”

He hangs up the phone. 

“What?” says Bob.

Dave keeps hold of his hand. “It’s her heart, love. The sister said to come soon.”

It feels like a punch. Bob can’t help his half-sob. “Oh god.”

Dave pulls him into a hug. “Shhh, shhh.” Bob leans against his shoulder. He’s not crying, really. Dave rubs his back. “We can go tomorrow.”

“You’ve got work. You don’t have to come. I can get a train.”

“Of course I’ll come, love. The lads can manage on their own.”

And now Bob _is_ crying. 

Dave holds him, soothing, waiting for him to stop.

“Thank you.”

“Ah, love, you don’t have to thank me.”

“But still.” He stands up straight, sniffs, wipes his hand across his eyes.

“Come and set the table.”

So he does that while Dave dishes up. After they’ve eaten, he texts one of the other drivers to cover his shift and rings the boss. He doesn’t know quite what to say. “Is it okay if I don’t come in tomorrow? I have to visit someone in hospital. In Glasgow. Dan said he’d do my shift.” He says it all in a rush.

“A relative?”

“Um … no. An old lady. A friend.”

“Alright. Don’t make a habit of this sort of thing, mind!”

“No. Thank you. I’ll do Dan’s shift on Sunday.”

He rings One Two, but he doesn’t pick up.

They go to bed early and set an alarm. It’s a long drive to Glasgow.

It’s a very long drive, and Bob is restless in the passenger seat. Dave lets him take over after Manchester. They arrive in Glasgow in time for visiting at the hospital.

“I’ll wait for you down here,” Dave says, in the lobby.

“Yeah, okay.” He pushes the button for the lift. He’s nervous about how sick she’ll be. He finds his way to the ward and asks at the desk for her.

“You can’t stay long, mind, she’s very ill,” says the nurse.

She’s so tiny in the bed, all hooked up to machines, heart monitor beeping, with a mask over her face. But she smiles at him and lifts her hand to shift the mask. 

“Hello, Bob love.” Her voice is a soft breath.

“Hello.” He bends down to kiss her cheek. “I didn’t know you were sick,” he says. She smiles and pats his hand. There’s a chair by the bed and he sits down and holds her hand. He doesn’t know what to say, really. Then he decides to tell her.

“I’m with someone now,” he says. “He came with me today. His name is Dave. You’d like him.”

She smiles at him.

“I’m really happy with him,” he says. He sits for a few more minutes, listening to the monitor count her fading heartbeats. 

A nurse comes in and says: “She’s tired now. You can come back this evening.”

He gives her hand a last squeeze and stands up, bends down and kisses her cheek again. “Bye-bye. I’ll come back later.”

Outside the room he says: “Has her son been to visit?”

“Oh yes,” says the nurse, “you just missed him. He’ll be back later, I’m sure.”

Back in the lobby, he says: “I said I’d come back tonight. Is that okay? She’s … Dave, she’s so old.” He swallows. He doesn’t want to cry, here.

“Of course we can, love. Let’s go and get something to eat, eh?”

In the van, he says: “The nurse said One Two’s been to visit. I might see him later, I suppose.” Dave glances at him. “It’ll be okay. I mean, I hope so.”

“I’m sure it will.” Dave concentrates on traffic then and Bob looks out of the side window. “I booked us a room,” says Dave. “I thought you would want to see her again.”

“Really?”

“Yes, made sense.”

He has to blink, looking out of the window. “Thank you.”

Dave puts his hand on Bob’s thigh briefly, gives it a squeeze.

They go and get something to eat, and then to the hotel. Bob falls on the bed, exhausted, and they nap. When he wakes up, he turns over and Dave is already awake.

“I told her about you. That I’m happy with you.”

“You did?”

“She smiled. I didn’t tell her before. I didn’t know what she’d think.”

It’s almost time to go back to the hospital. He’ll probably see One Two there. For the first time in months and months. But at least it isn’t in London, on One Two’s patch, or in his space.

He takes a deep, shaky breath as Dave parks the van. “Would you come up with me?”

“Of course, love. I’ll wait outside the ward.”

He takes Bob’s hand as they walk towards the entrance, lets it go as they step into the bright lobby busy with evening visitors.

A small crowd is waiting outside the ward for the doors to open. One Two isn’t there. At seven, the doors open and the everyone troops inside. Dave hangs back. 

There’s a nurse at the door of her room. “Just a very quick visit, please. She’s very tired.”

She looks even tinier in the high bed than before. Bob steps to the bedside and looks down at her. She opens her eyes and half smiles, and he bends down to kiss her soft cheek. “Hello,” he whispers. Her eyes slip shut again. There’s a sound behind him; he glances over his shoulder. One Two is standing at the door. There’s an odd look on his face, sad and disbelieving. The nurse comes in and touches his arm, “Goodbye,” he says softly, and steps away. 

“Bob,” says One Two quietly as he passes him in the door, and reaches for him, touches his hand. “Don’t go?”

“Okay,” he says, “I’ll wait outside.”

Dave is standing in the corridor.

“I told him I’d wait,” says Bob, “D’you mind?”

“Course not.” They stand there, not talking, watching visitors come and go, nurses bustling about, till a bell chimes and people stream out, One Two among them.

“Bob,” he says, “You came all this way?”

“Yeah. I didn’t know she was even sick. She never said. A nurse texted me.” He has to blink a bit and swallow the lump in his throat.

“You kept in touch with her? I didn’t know that, Bobby. Thanks, mate. She loves you.” He rubs a hand across his face. “It’s pretty sudden. I don’t know what I’m doing, sitting here. I think they’re going to let me stay, tonight.”

A porter steps into the corridor. “You have to go now. Mr Macdonald can stay.”

“Thank you for coming, Bob,” says One Two as he turns to go back inside. “I appreciate it.”

“I wanted to see her.”

One Two nods at Dave. “Thanks, mate,” he says.

“I’m glad I saw him,” he says as they walk out. “It wasn’t so bad.”

“I’m glad too,” says Dave.

*

The text comes at six o’clock in the morning.

He rings One Two. “I’m so sorry,” he says, trying not to let his voice break. “I loved your mum. She was good to me.”

“Yeah, she loved you too, Bobby-boy. Thanks. Thanks for coming.”

Dave pulls him down next to him again, puts his arm around Bob’s shoulders and pushes his hand into his hair and holds him while he cries into Dave’s chest for the loss of the woman who was like a mother to him at a difficult time.


End file.
